The Toronto Blue Jays have finally decided to blow things up and rebuild after finishing fourth yet again in the American League East.

For the longest time, the Blue Jays felt like their free agent signings and up-and-coming talent would combine with the current roster to field a competitive team.

Toronto found out the hard way that their plan just wouldn't cut it in the ultra-competitive American League East, and has now finally decided to go in a different direction.

That change in direction began in the offseason when the Blue Jays traded away ace Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies for a boatload of prospects.

Without Halladay, the starting rotation will be shaky at best. The Blue Jays do have some young and talented starters, but there is still plenty of inconsistency to go around.

Ricky Romero is probably the most promising of all of the young starting pitchers, but he dealt with injuries for a significant part of last season. The team is also hopeful that Dustin McGowan can return and be effective after missing a season because of shoulder surgery.

The team also traded away outfielder Alex Rios before the deadline last year. Rios would seem like the type of player Toronto would want to build around because of his talent and age. However, the team felt they were paying him away too much money after signing him to a long-term deal and watching him disappoint for two straight seasons.

Toronto hopes that veteran outfielder Vernon Wells can bounce back and be the catalyst for the offense in 2010.

Wells also signed a big contract extension with the team only to be derailed by various injuries. The Blue Jays would have been thrilled to deal him away, but could not find any interested teams.

As good as Wells has been in the past, many will say that outfielder Adam Lind is now the team's top offensive player. Lind had a terrific 2009 season and should be a cornerstone of the franchise for years to come.

The bottome line is that it's going to be a tough year for the Blue Jays, who very well could be headed for the cellar in the A.L. East.